Help needed - Chook ill

[Old bird]

Need a bit of help today and fairly fast as this girl seems to be fading fast.

She is very depressed/ill today.  She was downcast yesterday but today is just fluffed up and in a corner, eyes mostly closed or closing.  She appears to have the runs as there is a hell of a mess on the ground behind her.

I picked her up last night to see if there was anything visible ie egg bound (although I don't actually know how to check for that!) but she is just skin and bone and she cried out when I felt around her rear end.  She I put her down and she sort of collapsed and fell over.  I have made sure that she had food and a drink in front of her - she took a few sips - but then just stood there.

Is there anything I can do for her - or is it the chop?  One of the others had something stuck in her throat/neck which I managed to sort - but I have checked for that and there is nothing that I can feel along there.  Her crop is not full or anything.  She is not breathing fast or heavy like the other one was that had something stuck.

I hate to see an animal suffering so need advice - please - fast!

Old Bird
 

I hope you get this soon as I am getting a bit fussed about her!

[jonny211]

I'm no expert but if she's still pooing then maybe there's not an egg stuck there... could you have a poke in the vent just to check though?

What colour is the poo she's leaving... is it foamy and yellow. I think this is a sign of worms.

Could you give her a boost of high protein food - cooked egg yolks for example.

Jon

[betula]

Oh heck,I really hate it when one of the chickens is ill.

[Old bird]

Thanks for the reply Jonny!

It is pretty much liquid poo - so just a bit of white and dark in liquid form! I will go up there at lunch time and have a poke in the vent and will try some egg yolk.

Thanks for advice!

Yes Denise I do hate it too!  It is so difficult as with dogs you can guess by their demeanour but with chickens they are either well or ill and looking like death!

Old Bird
 

[Old bird]

Oh dear - got there at lunchtime and she had died - such a shame - she had done so well in the 3/4 months I had had her!

Still she had a good time during these last few months so - no regrets.

What made it difficult was that the nosey neighbour that also has chickens on the lottie was hanging around - saying "I didn't know whether to mover her " or whatever and enjoying the drama - which - scuse the language - really pissed me off - "what are you going to do with it bury it?"  None of her bloody business - so I just said I didn't want to talk and put bird in a bin bag and took her home with me.

Bet you she goes round the site telling all and sundry and saying that I was so upset I couldn't talk!  She will make a meal out of this to be sure!

Having said that - what am i going to do with her - I suppose leave her in bin bag and put her out for the binmen with rest of stuff?  Haven't got room to bury her.  Dilemma or what?!

Old Bird

 

Old Bird

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'd bury it and put the goodness back into the ground. Unless you mean what are you going to do with the nosey neighbour of course, in which case you don't want to leave the evidence so close to home!

[manicscousers]

so sorry, old bird..at least she had good food and fresh air for a few months 

[betula]

Oh Ann,so sorry

[Old bird]

Thanks all for sympathy vote. I wasn't desperately upset or anything as I know that I will have casualties and it is not as if it is one of my dogs or my chook at home!

Thanks Robert - It was a dilemma about what to do - but I would freak out if I forgot where I buried her and dug her up again.  My memory is apalling so probably just as well to put her out for the dustmen and as you say "nosey neighbour". 
One of my friends on the lottie said that I should have told her that "Hell no I wasn't going to bury her - I was going home to pluck and cook her!"  She is one of the sort that wouldn't mind eating her chickens even though they are not "meat" chickens and are as scrawny as anything - but presumably - only if they had been killed for eating!

Old Bird
 

[B7jac]

So sorry about your chook.

Do you think it could have been your mite infestation? as I have read that if bad it can lead to sick birds and even death.  The mites feed off the hens and if there are thousands this would mean the hen has no energy and eventually gets weaker and weaker.

I too have this problem recently and although it is not that bad just cant seem to eliminate them completely !

[Old bird]

Hi B7jac

Aren't they a complete nightmare.  I had them in my bed again yesterday - How ghastly is that!?

I don't really know what did for this girl - she wasn't "right" possibly for a couple of weeks - but nothing that I could say was wrong - just a little different to the others.  She was very thin - but none of mine are chunky.  I really don't know, although I have noticed recently a few red specks in the eggs.  So on the assumption that I have noticed them now - they weren't heavily infected before.  When I held her to see if she was egg bound or whatever she screamed - I think in pain, and fell over a bit - so I hurt her without meaning to - so possibly not.  She had a good covering of feathers and no obvious baldy bits.

All the stuff I keep getting - none of it actually says it "kills" the b*****s!
One organic one with tea tree oil as one of the components says it "controls" them.  What I was going to try and find out is if there is anything like a mobile "steam cleaner"  I am pretty sure that with very hot water/steam that would sort them out and cook them!  Trouble is up the lottie there is no electricity at all.  I may - if pushed - get a gas burner and heat up kettles of water and put that in the sprayer and give them a blast.  That would also I am pretty sure kill their eggs too.  Obviously you can't use it on the birds but I think that would certainly put the balance back in my hands and I could powder the girls again and keep going that way - possibly after a couple of treatments I may be winning.

I am not sure about using shredded paper in the nesting boxes as it tends to stick to the eggs and their feet - but may also try that!  ANYTHING just talking about it makes me itchy!

If I find anything that actually works I will let you know - but if I can't organise this steam thing then I think it is the long haul of a hammer and bash the b****rs!

OB
 

[B7jac]

Hi,

Yes I may try a steam cleaner too.  But I know my prob is the floor its tongue and grooved and I am sure that this is where they are.  In the mornings they are in little bundles but I'm not sure if they are dead or dying as some move others dont ! 

I only use shredded paper now, it dosent stick too much and newspaper on the floor this then goes straight in the compost bin.

I feel like burning the whole thing !!!!

How did you get rid of them from your bed ??   Must have been horrible !

Good luck

You cant really rush up to your lottie with a kettle full of boiled water can you ??

What are we like?  lol

[Old bird]

It was ghastly - I hoovered the mattress several times, althgough I don't think I am properly clear of them yet!  They may have laid their eggs or whatever.  But unlike the first night I found them when I was covered in bites and the like only getting perhaps one or two!

Still the hoover is coming out again tonite before I get to bed!  I will try the shredded paper again - I have loads of it at work so that won't be a problem.

The lottie is only about a minute in the car away so - yes I will hurtle up there kettle and all!

Why don't you try what I am going to try on the roof (due to having a felt roof) and use that bathroom sealant on and along the joins?  I have rabbited on on Theresa's thread red mites also about trying to use that yellow sticky paper that you use for flys wrapped round the end of the perches.

I will keep in touch I have put tomorrow aside for starting the next attack on these horrors. 

Good luck with yours!

Old Bird